When to override updateTrackingAreas - objective-c

So I have a quite big NSScrollView with several custom views in it. In these custom views i'm overriding -(void)updateTrackingAreas like this:
- (void)updateTrackingAreas
{
[self removeTrackingArea:trackingArea];
trackingArea = [[NSTrackingArea alloc] initWithRect:[self bounds]
options:(NSTrackingCursorUpdate |
NSTrackingActiveWhenFirstResponder |
NSTrackingInVisibleRect)
owner:self
userInfo:nil];
[self addTrackingArea:trackingArea];
}
But somehow I feel this is a little unefficient since I have about 50 instances of my custom view in the NSScrollView and only about 5 of them are visible at a time and this way I'm updating the tracking areas of non-visible views.
So I thought I would skip updating the tracking areas if the view is not in NSScrollView's visible rect. Something like:
- (void)updateTrackingAreas
{
if(!NSIntersectsRect([self frame], [[self superview] visibleRect]))
{
return;
}
// ...
}
This seems to be working out well but I'm not sure if this is safe.
Does anyone have some advice on this matter?

Related

Why are Tracking Areas Not Respected

I've been experimenting with tracking area, and having some problems, so I created this simple program as a test. I create one tracking area in the lower left corner of my view (which is the window's content view), but I receive mouseEntered and exited messages no matter where I enter or exit the view. I've also tried putting this code in the init method and awakeFromNib with the same results.
#implementation Parent //This view is the contentView of the main window
-(void)viewDidMoveToWindow{
NSLog(#"In viwDidMoveToWindow");
NSTrackingArea *area = [[NSTrackingArea alloc]initWithRect:NSMakeRect(0,0,50,50) options:NSTrackingInVisibleRect |NSTrackingMouseEnteredAndExited |NSTrackingActiveInActiveApp owner:self userInfo:nil];
[self addTrackingArea:area];
}
-(void)mouseEntered:(NSEvent *)theEvent {
NSLog(#"Entered");
}
-(void)mouseExited:(NSEvent *)theEvent {
NSLog(#"Exited");
}
#end
Why is the tracking area not being respected?
It has to do with the options you are using, try instead using
options:NSTrackingActiveAlways | NSTrackingMouseEnteredAndExited

Setting Bool in different classes

I have the following code where after a bool is true I want to add a drawing to my rect. here is the code I have but for some reason it is either not setting the bool or calling the setNeedsDisplay. Am I referencing to the other class properly? thanks
//in AppController.m
-(IBAction)colorToggle:(id)sender
{
if ([colorFilter state] == NSOnState)
{
CutoutView *theView = [[CutoutView alloc] init];
[theView setFilterEnabled:YES];
}
}
//in cutoutView.m
- (void)drawRect:(NSRect)dirtyRect
{
[[[NSColor blackColor]colorWithAlphaComponent:0.9]set];
NSRectFill(dirtyRect);
//this is what i want to be drawn when my bool is true and update the drawRect
if (filterEnabled == YES) {
NSRectFillUsingOperation(NSMakeRect(100, 100, 300, 300), NSCompositeClear);
[self update];
}
}
-(void)update
{
[self setNeedsDisplay:YES];
}
OK, you know how not every UILabel is the same? Like, you can remove one UILabel from a view without all the others disappearing too? Well, your CutoutView is the same way. When you write CutoutView *theView = [[CutoutView alloc] init]; there, that creates a new CutoutView that isn't displayed anywhere. You need to talk to your existing CutoutView (probably by hooking up an outlet, but there are any number of perfectly valid designs that will accomplish this goal).
You are forgetting to call the drawRect: method, it should looks like this:
CutoutView *theView = [[CutoutView alloc] init];
[theView setFilterEnabled:YES];
[theView setNeedsDisplay];
From the docs:
When the actual content of your view changes, it is your
responsibility to notify the system that your view needs to be
redrawn. You do this by calling your view’s setNeedsDisplay or
setNeedsDisplayInRect: method of the view.

Using NSTrackingArea in an NSView that is unattached to a window?

Basically, I want an "invisible" NSView covering my entire screen. I will add an NSTrackingArea to that, so that I get global mouse events as my cursor moves about the screen.
-(void)setTrackingArea
{
view = [[NSView alloc] initWithFrame:[NSScreen currentScreenForPoint:[NSEvent mouseLocation]].frame];
NSTrackingArea *area = [[NSTrackingArea alloc] initWithRect:[NSScreen currentScreenForPoint:[NSEvent mouseLocation]].frame options:NSTrackingMouseEnteredAndExited | NSTrackingActiveAlways owner:view userInfo:nil];
[view addTrackingArea:area];
[area release];
//[[window contentView] addSubview:view];
//I don't want to add the view to a window, as all tutorials say.
}
- (void)mouseExited:(NSEvent *)theEvent
{
NSLog(#"Exit"); //Never firing
}
Is this possible? Using NSViews and NSTracking Areas without a window?
Using an invisible view is definitely not something you want to do. Look into the addGlobalMonitorForEventsMatchingMask:: class method on NSEvent.
For example, here's how you would add a monitor for a movement of the mouse:
[NSEvent addGlobalMonitorForEventsMatchingMask:NSMouseMovedMask handler:^(NSEvent *mouseMovedEvent) {
//do something with that event
}];

mouseExited isn't called when mouse leaves trackingArea while scrolling

Why mouseExited/mouseEntered isn't called when mouse exits from NStrackingArea by scrolling or doing animation?
I create code like this:
Mouse entered and exited:
-(void)mouseEntered:(NSEvent *)theEvent {
NSLog(#"Mouse entered");
}
-(void)mouseExited:(NSEvent *)theEvent
{
NSLog(#"Mouse exited");
}
Tracking area:
-(void)updateTrackingAreas
{
if(trackingArea != nil) {
[self removeTrackingArea:trackingArea];
[trackingArea release];
}
int opts = (NSTrackingMouseEnteredAndExited | NSTrackingActiveAlways);
trackingArea = [ [NSTrackingArea alloc] initWithRect:[self bounds]
options:opts
owner:self
userInfo:nil];
[self addTrackingArea:trackingArea];
}
More details:
I have added NSViews as subviews in NSScrollView's view. Each NSView have his own tracking area and when I scroll my scrollView and leave tracking area "mouseExited" isn't called but without scrolling everything works fine. Problem is that when I scroll "updateTrackingAreas" is called and I think this makes problems.
* Same problem with just NSView without adding it as subview so that's not a problem.
As you noted in the title of the question, mouseEntered and mouseExited are only called when the mouse moves. To see why this is the case, let's first look at the process of adding NSTrackingAreas for the first time.
As a simple example, let's create a view that normally draws a white background, but if the user hovers over the view, it draws a red background. This example uses ARC.
#interface ExampleView
- (void) createTrackingArea
#property (nonatomic, retain) backgroundColor;
#property (nonatomic, retain) trackingArea;
#end
#implementation ExampleView
#synthesize backgroundColor;
#synthesize trackingArea
- (id) awakeFromNib
{
[self setBackgroundColor: [NSColor whiteColor]];
[self createTrackingArea];
}
- (void) createTrackingArea
{
int opts = (NSTrackingMouseEnteredAndExited | NSTrackingActiveAlways);
trackingArea = [ [NSTrackingArea alloc] initWithRect:[self bounds]
options:opts
owner:self
userInfo:nil];
[self addTrackingArea:trackingArea];
}
- (void) drawRect: (NSRect) rect
{
[[self backgroundColor] set];
NSRectFill(rect);
}
- (void) mouseEntered: (NSEvent*) theEvent
{
[self setBackgroundColor: [NSColor redColor]];
}
- (void) mouseEntered: (NSEvent*) theEvent
{
[self setBackgroundColor: [NSColor whiteColor]];
}
#end
There are two problems with this code. First, when -awakeFromNib is called, if the mouse is already inside the view, -mouseEntered is not called. This means that the background will still be white, even though the mouse is over the view. This is actually mentioned in the NSView documentation for the assumeInside parameter of -addTrackingRect:owner:userData:assumeInside:
If YES, the first event will be generated when the cursor leaves aRect, regardless if the cursor is inside aRect when the tracking rectangle is added. If NO the first event will be generated when the cursor leaves aRect if the cursor is initially inside aRect, or when the cursor enters aRect if the cursor is initially outside aRect.
In both cases, if the mouse is inside the tracking area, no events will be generated until the mouse leaves the tracking area.
So to fix this, when we add the tracking area, we need to find out if the cursor is within in the tracking area. Our -createTrackingArea method thus becomes
- (void) createTrackingArea
{
int opts = (NSTrackingMouseEnteredAndExited | NSTrackingActiveAlways);
trackingArea = [ [NSTrackingArea alloc] initWithRect:[self bounds]
options:opts
owner:self
userInfo:nil];
[self addTrackingArea:trackingArea];
NSPoint mouseLocation = [[self window] mouseLocationOutsideOfEventStream];
mouseLocation = [self convertPoint: mouseLocation
fromView: nil];
if (NSPointInRect(mouseLocation, [self bounds]))
{
[self mouseEntered: nil];
}
else
{
[self mouseExited: nil];
}
}
The second problem is scrolling. When scrolling or moving a view, we need to recalculate the NSTrackingAreas in that view. This is done by removing the tracking areas and then adding them back in. As you noted, -updateTrackingAreas is called when you scroll the view. This is the place to remove and re-add the area.
- (void) updateTrackingAreas
{
[self removeTrackingArea:trackingArea];
[self createTrackingArea];
[super updateTrackingAreas]; // Needed, according to the NSView documentation
}
And that should take care of your problem. Admittedly, needing to find the mouse location and then convert it to view coordinates every time you add a tracking area is something that gets old quickly, so I would recommend creating a category on NSView that handles this automatically. You won't always be able to call [self mouseEntered: nil] or [self mouseExited: nil], so you might want to make the category accept a couple blocks. One to run if the mouse is in the NSTrackingArea, and one to run if it is not.
#Michael offers a great answer, and solved my problem. But there is one thing,
if (CGRectContainsPoint([self bounds], mouseLocation))
{
[self mouseEntered: nil];
}
else
{
[self mouseExited: nil];
}
I found CGRectContainsPoint works in my box, not CGPointInRect,

How can I get notified when a UIView becomes visible?

Is there a way to get a notification, a callback or some other means to call a method whenever a UIView becomes visible for the user, i.e. when a UIScrollview is the superview of some UIViews, and the ViewController of such a UIView shall get notified when its view is now visible to the user?
I am aware of the possible, but not so elegant solution of checking to which position the ScrollView scrolled (via UIScrollViewDelegate-methods) and compute if either one of the subviews is visible...
But I'm looking for a more universal way of doing this.
I've managed to solve the problem this way:
First, add a category for UIView with the following method:
// retrieve an array containing all super views
-(NSArray *)getAllSuperviews
{
NSMutableArray *superviews = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
if(self.superview == nil) return nil;
[superviews addObject:self.superview];
[superviews addObjectsFromArray:[self.superview getAllSuperviews]];
return superviews;
}
Then, in your View, check if the window-property is set:
-(void)didMoveToWindow
{
if(self.window != nil)
[self observeSuperviewsOnOffsetChange];
else
[self removeAsSuperviewObserver];
}
If it is set, we'll observe the "contentOffset" of each superview on any change. If the window is nil, we'll stop observing. You can change the keyPath to any other property, maybe "frame" if there is no UIScrollView in your superviews:
-(void)observeSuperviewsOnOffsetChange
{
NSArray *superviews = [self getAllSuperviews];
for (UIView *superview in superviews)
{
if([superview respondsToSelector:#selector(contentOffset)])
[superview addObserver:self forKeyPath:#"contentOffset" options:NSKeyValueObservingOptionNew context:nil];
}
}
-(void)removeAsSuperviewObserver
{
NSArray *superviews = [self getAllSuperviews];
for (UIView *superview in superviews)
{
#try
{
[superview removeObserver:self forKeyPath:#"contentOffset"];
}
#catch(id exception) { }
}
}
Now implement the "observeValueForKeyPath"-method:
-(void)observeValueForKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath ofObject:(id)object change:(NSDictionary *)change context:(void *)context
{
if([keyPath isEqualToString:#"contentOffset"])
{
[self checkIfFrameIsVisible];
}
}
Finally, check if the view's frame is visible inside the window's frame:
-(void)checkIfFrameIsVisible
{
CGRect myFrameToWindow = [self.window convertRect:self.frame fromView:self];
if(myFrameToWindow.size.width == 0 || myFrameToWindow.size.height == 0) return;
if(CGRectContainsRect(self.window.frame, myFrameToWindow))
{
// We are visible, do stuff now
}
}
If your view is exhibiting behavior, it should be within a view controller. On a view controller, the viewDidAppear method will be called each time the view appears.
- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated
I don't think there's a universal way to do this for views. Sounds like you're stuck with scrollViewDidEndScrolling and other ScrollViewDelegate methods. But I'm not sure why you say it's elegant, they're quite straightforward.
view's layer property should tell us if that view is visible or not
[view.layer visibleRect];
but this isnt working for me.
So work around could be to use UiScrollView contentOffset property to calculate if particular view is visible or not.